Thu, Sep 06, 2012 | 12:00 BST
Xbox 720 release delayed due poor processor quality – report
Xbox 720 hasn’t even been unveiled by Microsoft yet, but a fresh report suggests that the reveal itself could be delayed due to a manufacturing issue that has led to ‘painfully low’ processor quality.
Tech news site SemiAccurate has stated – by way of OXM – that Xbox 720 will house AMD manufactured processors, rather than the Xbox 360′s IBM chips. The site claims that the processors were due to enter production this December, but delays have set in.
The site also claims that AMD’s Xbox 720 processor goes by the internal codename ‘Oban’, and is being developed at several locations in the East, but that the build quality is – as the site describes it – ‘painfully low’. The site’s source went so far as to say the build quality wasn’t even up to “horrid” yet.
This could mean delays in the Xbox 720 launch – which may sound daft as we don’t even know when it’s due in the first instance – but the site also claims that proper processor testing takes about eight weeks before they are shippable. A source has told the site that Microsft is currently targeting a September 2013 launch for Xbox 720.
The report also claims that date Microsoft can submit chips for testing before the end of the year is November 8, meaning it will miss the rumoured December production schedule. SemiAccurate estimates that Microsoft needs to enter full production by February 2013 to hit the rumoured September release date.
Cheers again OXM.
63 comments
Older Comments
#51
monkeygourmet
06/09/12, 4:39 pm
@50
I did a fair bit of arguing, they seemed so adamant that they weren’t going to budge on this ‘policy’, I just wished they’d had thrown in a PSN card or something to sweeten the blow!
Also, at no point did they say they would remove features, which was quite a big deal to me
#52
DrDamn
06/09/12, 4:47 pm
@51
Well that’s just shitty. They should have given you the option to have *your* machine repaired, not just replaced by a refurb. You could have made them take it back and refund you at that point but I guess it was just not worth the hassle by then. Service wise the damage was done.
#53
G1GAHURTZ
06/09/12, 5:31 pm
“This could mean delays in the Xbox 720 launch – which may sound daft as we don’t even know when it’s due in the first instance…”
Yes.
It does sound incredibly daft, indeed.
#54
G1GAHURTZ
06/09/12, 5:32 pm
“This could mean delays in the Xbox 720 launch – which may sound daft as we don’t even know when it’s due in the first instance…”
Yes…
It does sound incredibly daft, indeed.
#55
fearmonkey
06/09/12, 6:38 pm
The interesting thing is that leaked MS article showed Arm x86 cores so this could still be a possibility.
Also, the HD7000 spec means nothing without a card/chip model to base performance off of. The rumored GPU was a HD6670 and there is a rebranded version of that card called a HD7670, it has a HD7000 moniker buts the same chip as the HD6670, which is mediocre part. Let’s hope for a true Southern Islands GPU, but i’m thinking this ios what it might use.
Could Pachter have had this information before when he made his 2014 announcement? If the delay happens and its past the november window, it would indeed be a spring 2014 launch.
#56
NocturnalB
06/09/12, 6:43 pm
@53 But hey at least it gave you a reason to speak up and be redundant right??
#57
fearmonkey
06/09/12, 6:57 pm
Looking over the article linked regarding the AMD Fusion chips that have AMD x86 cores and ARM cores, it talks about re-ordering memory and that Southern islands are built not having to use AMD CPU X86 memory ordering, so maybe a true southern islands chip is possible then
#58
sh4dow
06/09/12, 7:00 pm
“So history repeats itself.”
Well of course. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And we all know how dense people are. (This just reminds me of a book… “The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress”)
#59
G1GAHURTZ
06/09/12, 7:02 pm
@55:
Punctuation fail.
#60
ManuOtaku
06/09/12, 7:11 pm
#57 Well humans are the only animals that stumble on the same rock twice, so yeah, we are prone to repeat past mistakes.
#61
NocturnalB
06/09/12, 7:22 pm
@58 You’re pathetic.
#62
rav555
07/09/12, 10:12 am
Interesting…for starters AMD does not manufacture it’s cpus or for that matter any silicon cpu, apu, gpu or otherwise. AMD IS a design house.
So that little factoid gets in the way of your credibility.
But to continue: to say that the marriage of a Radeon 7000 to a new gen quad core is difficult would be an understatement.
Microsoft has some savvy, one would think that low yields are expected and in fact ALL new silicon has poor yields. But chip design quality is not a yield issue. The design is sound or three console makers would NOT have bought in. I guess that Wii U may not be x86 but too soon to tell for certain.
Your article implies that the problem is a design issue when it most certainly isn’t, it is a fabrication issue which again is to be expected.
The last rumour had xBox 720 with Intel inside and Intel graphics! But that one was too ludicrous to even pay the slightest attention to.
As a game box cpu it only needs to perform for graphics. That means the typical MS bloatware is not going to be slogging the silicon down. Also ALL benches against Intel integrated graphics or Sandy Birdge and up are outrageously trumped by AMD. Since a game box doesn’t need to calculate a spreadsheet or Pi to a bazzillion decimal places Inel can not compete. While I am surprised to see MS and the rest of the pack switch to x86 from a RISC instruction set, AMD does have the benefit of having the best performing graphics and cheapest silicon available. Unless someone wants to argue that a TegraII console is the way to go? Yeah right.
I would suspect that the lack of the bloatware handicap will keep AMD very competitive in the game console market. Don’t forget that Intel is about 5 generations behind Radeon graphics cores.
#63
roadkill
07/09/12, 4:05 pm
@4 Seriously? 16 consoles? Wow! Amazing! You people really don’t know what to do with so much money.
Older Comments